About Virology Journal

What is Virology Journal?

Virology Journal is an Open Access, peer-reviewed, online journal that presents high-quality original research concerning viruses, and establishes a strategic alternative to the traditional virology communication process.

Virology Journal will feature articles on human, animal, plant, insect, bacterial, and fungal viruses. The journal will also publish articles on molecular aspects of the control and prevention of viral infections with vaccines and antiviral agents and on the use of viruses as gene therapy vectors. The approaches and techniques used are expected to encompass many disciplines, including molecular genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, biophysics, structural biology, cell biology, immunology, morphology, genetics and pathogenesis.

The outbreaks of SARS coronavirus, West Nile virus, and monkeypox virus are but a few recent examples of the urgent need for a rapid forum for communications among virologists. Virology Journal will meet the rapid communication needs in virology. We will also provide article links to an extensive database of virology information through our "All the Virology" (ATV) web site (www.virology.net).

Content overview

Virology Journal considers the following types of articles:

• Research - reports of data from original research.
• Book reviews - short summaries of the strengths and weaknesses of a book. They should evaluate its overall usefulness to the intended audience.
• Case reports - reports of clinical cases that can be educational, describe a diagnostic or therapeutic dilemma, suggest an association, or present an important adverse reaction.
• Commentaries - short, focused and opinionated articles on any subject within the scope of the journal. These articles are usually related to a contemporary issue, such as recent research findings, and are often written by opinion leaders.
• Debate articles - present an argument that is not essentially based on practical research. Debate articles can report on all aspects of the subject including sociological and ethical aspects.
• Hypotheses - short articles presenting an untested original hypothesis backed solely by previously published results rather than any new evidence.
• Methodology articles - present a new experimental method, test or procedure. The method described may either be completely new, or may offer a better version of an existing method.
• Reviews - comprehensive, authoritative, descriptions of any subject within the scope of Virology Journal. These articles are usually written by opinion leaders that have been invited by the Editorial Board.
• Short reports - brief reports of data from original research.
• Study protocols - describe proposed or ongoing research, providing a detailed account of the hypothesis, rationale, and methodology of the study.

Peer review policies

The Editor-in-Chief will assign each submitted manuscript to a member of the Editorial Board, who will appoint at least two ad hoc reviewers. Once the reviewers have provided their feedback, the Editorial Board member assigned to the manuscript will make the recommendation on publication.

Edited by Robert F. Garry, Virology Journal is supported by an expert Editorial Board.

Publishing in Virology Journal

All articles will be listed in PubMed immediately upon acceptance (after peer review), and will be covered by PubMed Central, MEDLINE, Thomson Reuters (ISI), CAS, CABI, Embase and Current Contents.

Articles in Virology Journal should be cited in the same way as articles in a traditional journal. However, because articles in this journal are not printed, they do not have page numbers. Instead, they have a unique article number.

The following citation:

Virol J 2004, 2:1

refers to article 1 from volume 2 of the journal.

As an online journal, Virology Journal does not have issue numbers. Each volume corresponds to a calendar year.

To keep up to date with the latest articles from Virology Journal, why not register to receive alerts? Registration also enables you to customise your subject areas of interest, store your searches, and submit your manuscripts.

Submission of manuscripts

Manuscripts should be submitted electronically to Virology Journal using the online submission system. Full details of how to submit a manuscript are given in the instructions for authors.

General journal policies

Virology Journal is published  by BioMed Central, an independent publisher committed to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is Open Access. That means it is freely and universally accessible online, it is archived in at least one internationally recognised free access repository, and its authors retain copyright, allowing anyone to reproduce or disseminate articles, according to the BioMed Central copyright and licence agreement. Virology Journal however, has taken this further by making all its content Open Access.

Virology Journal's articles are archived in PubMed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's full-text repository of life science literature, and also at INIST in France and in e-Depot, the National Library of the Netherlands' digital archive of all electronic publications. The journal is also participating in the British Library's e-journals pilot project, and plans to deposit copies of all articles with the British Library.

BioMed Central is working closely with the Thomson Reuters (ISI) to ensure that citation analysis of articles published in Virology Journal will be available.

Virology Journal is able to deliver summaries of frequently updated content via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. These are accessible via the orange "XML" button at the top of the list of recent articles or the list of most accessed articles. For more information about RSS feeds see our publisher's website.

For further information about general policies please see the instructions for authors.